In electric glassmaking furnaces and the like, buses and bus systems are employed to carry the electrical current from a transformer to the electric heating element or elements of the furnace, such heating elements being, for example, induction or resistance electrodes. One known bus system employs a squared Y-shape bus consisting of jointed bus bars or elements. The rectangular parallel bus bars forming the stem of the bus are connected by terminal lugs to respective contact pads of the transformer and extend therefrom in relatively closely spaced, parallel relationship. At their ends remote from the transformer, these bus bars have connected thereto a respective conductive cross bar. The cross bars extend laterally in opposite directions and have conductive flexible feeders or jumpers respectively mounted thereon at their distal ends. The feeders typically are parallel and have contact plates thereon to which the heating element or elements, or conductive brackets or jumpers therefor, are connected. The conductive feeders desirably are laterally flexible to accommodate thermal expansion effects and those heretofore employed with electric glassmaking furnaces have been formed from a plurality of stacked copper leaves which are riveted, soldered, or mig welded together and to the contact plates at their ends.
Such known system has the disadvantage that it is subject to significant heating and losses due to magnetic induction effects and the joints employed therein. In particular, a relatively large voltage drop occurs in the bus stem where magnetic induction effects are the greatest. Each joint also has a voltage drop associated therewith as do the contact plate-feeder leaf interfaces.